Could a Baby Breathing Monitor Save Your Child's Life?

Keeping tabs on an infant's vital signs won't prevent SIDS — and could even be dangerous, experts say

If you’re a new parent shopping for baby gear, you may have come
across cardiorespiratory monitors touted as a way to keep tabs on your newborn’s
heart rate and breathing. Monitoring these vital signs, say manufacturers, can
lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

That’s the claim. Here’s the truth: There is no proof a
breathing, or apnea, monitor can protect an infant from SIDS. “From a
scientific point of view, and according to physicians, the Federal Drug
Administration and consumer safety boards, unless a child has a particular
breathing issue, your average baby does not need a breathing monitor,” says
neonatologist Luis C. Marrero, MD, of St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in
Paterson, New Jersey.

According to an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement on home monitoring, “parents
should be advised that home cardiorespiratory monitoring has not been proven to
prevent sudden unexpected deaths in infants.”

Even newborns who’ve had episodes of apnea while still in
the hospital rarely need to go home with a monitor. (Apnea in an infant
generally means the child stops breathing for 20 seconds or longer for no
obvious reason, according to the AAP.) “Data shows if they’ve outgrown the
apnea before they leave, there’s no need to monitor them at home,” says
Marrero.

How to reduce the risk of SIDS

The AAP statement stresses that
“pediatricians should continue to promote proven practices that decrease the
risk of SIDS.” Marrero agrees. “One thing parents should understand — and we
[pediatricians] always worry about when parents have monitors, even when they
aren’t breathing monitors — is it’s still important to follow the AAP
guidelines for preventing SIDS.”

The best way to protect a
newborn from SIDS is to put him to sleep on his
back. In the 20 years since the Back to Sleep campaign (now called
Safe to Sleep), which urged parents to place infants on their backs rather than their
tummies at naptime and bedtime, the incidence of SIDS has decreased by 50 percent.

Here’s what else you should do according to Safe to Sleep and the AAP: